Page 61 of Direct Action

“Am I okay?”

“I knew you were planning on quitting.”

“Ryan—”

“Baby, not here to argue about that. You came here thinking you were going to quit and thinking Poppy was too. Now I’m asking if you’re okay with how that went down?”

“I can’t leave Poppy.”

I didn’t miss the tremble in her voice, which meant I had my answer.

“I can talk to Poppy. Pete will too. I think it’s clear Beck would also have an opinion. We can talk her around.”

Chloe stared up at me with what looked like shocked amusement, when there was nothing amusing about the situation.

“You obviously don’t know Poppy. You, Pete, Fallon, Gavin, Mason, Aiden, that guy Beck, and the Pope could try to talk Poppy into quitting, but I guarantee you’d fail. Why do you think I stopped when I did? The more you push Poppy, the deeper she’ll dig her feet in. She’s me times seven hundred and eighty-five. If it wasn’t Cynthia who was missing, I would hope that when Cat starts explaining things to her, she’d get freaked and back out. But since it’s someone she knows and is friends with, Poppy won’t back down.”

Crazy, stubborn, loyal women.

“And I can’t talk you out of—”

“No.”

It was worth a shot.

“I’m not being a hard-ass to push your buttons,” I told her and lowered my forehead to hers. “I’m being a dick because I don’t know what to do. I don’t like this. I’m backed into a corner, and that’s not a place I like to be. I got limited moves, and none of them are good.”

Chloe lifted her hand, wrapped her fingers around my forearm, and squeezed.

“Ryan—”

“Just that for now, baby.”

“Okay,” she whispered.

I lifted my forehead off hers, dipped back down to brush my lips over hers, before I straightened and tagged her hand.

I guided her to the dining room, then made my way back to the living room, where Gavin was waiting.

“It’s shocking you’ve been laid in the last decade.”

What the fuck?

“Come again?”

“Have you ever heard the saying ‘You attract more flies with honey than vinegar’?”

“Don’t start—”

“Trust me, vinegar’s not working. Try honey.”

I clenched my jaw, not understanding why I had to remind my friend I wasn’t trying to attract flies.

“I’m trying to keep her safe.”

“And you will. The only part you had right was, you’ll be there to protect her if shit goes south. But for you to do that, she’s gotta lose the stubborn. And she won’t if you keep ordering her around and pissing her off. Try honey.”

Fuck, he was right.